Korean Air has acted to ensure the health and safety of passengers who are allergic to peanuts.

As a first step, the airline has replaced its honey-roasted peanut products with other snacks, such as crackers.

In addition, within the next few weeks, the flag-carrier will remove food containing peanut ingredients from in-flight meals.

The move is a far cry from the infamous ‘nutgate’ incident of 2014, when Korean Air vice president, Heather Cho, dissatisfied with the way peanuts were served, ordered a flight to return to the gate at John Kennedy International Airport.

Cho was arrested and jailed following the incident after assaulting a member of cabin crew.

Korean Air has made the latest decision after a recent incident involving two passengers who were offloaded from their KE621 flight to Manila from Incheon Airport because of a peanut allergy.

“The decision to stop peanut products and peanut ingredients is the minimum safety measure for peanut-allergy passengers,” a Korean Air spokesperson said.

Peanut allergies are emerging as a critical issue in the aviation industry, and a number of major global carriers have stopped offering in-flight peanut products.